 On August 5, 1864, during the Battle of Mobile Bay, Admiral Farragut led a squadron of eighteen Union ships, including the "Hartford", into the Confederate-held Mobile Bay.As the squadron came under fire from Fort Morgan, Fort Gaines, and Confederate ships, Brown and five other sailors worked on the "Hartford's" berth deck loading and operating the shell whip, a device which lifted boxes of gunpowder up to the gun deck.As they worked, a Confederate shell exploded in their midst.